Tony Lloyd calls Conservative ‘probe’ into the productivity of life saving services ‘disgraceful’

Tony Lloyd - Rochdale MP

Rochdale MP Tony Lloyd has called the Conservative ‘probe’ into the productivity of life saving services ‘disgraceful’, after speaking in the House of Commons.

He said: “For seven years, public sector workers, those who staff our hospitals, our paramedics, those who keep our communities safe in the police and fire and rescue and many more-have seen pay frozen. The cost of living, food, gas and electricity have gone ever upwards.

"At the same time, we’ve seen this government give tax cuts for the well-off; it’s not true that we’re all in together. It’s not unfair to ask the better off to shoulder a bigger share of the burden.”

The MP added: “It’s ludicrous of the government to shift responsibility to fund a respectful rise for firefighters as they’re doing with the social care crisis. It’s a disgraceful Tory probe into the productivity of life-saving services, round the clock work in tragic events.”

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell tabled the ‘Urgent Question’ on the public sector pay cap at the House of Commons on Wednesday (5 July): “To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he’ll make a statement outlining the government’s policies with regards to the public sector pay cap.”

Public sector pay has effectively been capped at 1% each year since 2013.

On 4 June, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, said the 1% pay cap for public sector workers would not be lifted, despite several cabinet ministers calling on Downing Street to ‘rethink its position on the cap’.

Liz Truss, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, answered the question, insisting the pay cap didn’t account for extra elements of pay.

Mr McDonnell responded, saying he expected the Chancellor [rather than Ms Truss] to respond and that the answer confirmed that ‘this isn’t a government, this is a cabinet of absolute chaos’.

Addressing Ms Truss, Mr Lloyd asked: “The Chief Secretary referred to productivity increases in the Public Sector.

“I wonder what she would say recognising recently we saw firefighters racing into Grenfell Tower, paramedics, police racing into the Manchester Arena after the bomb, doctors and nurses and other medical professionals who worked around the clock to save people’s lives. What advice would she give to her Honourable Friends on the benches opposite about productivity increases by those people who served the people of this country?”

The Chief Secretary responded: “They have done a tremendous job. I’m sure we are all extremely grateful for the fact that they put themselves in the line of danger on a regular basis.

"Productivity, we talked earlier about empowering people on the front line to be able to make decisions, to do things more quickly.

“When I see people working as nurses and teachers, sometimes they will say they would like to see less bureaucracy so they can get on with the real jobs they’ve been employed to do. That’s why more police are spending more time on the front line.

“So what productivity means is giving people more job satisfaction; they can spend more of their time doing the job they came into the public services to do and that’s why we are reforming the public services, and that’s why we’re seeing those improvements.”